Mephisto
Back| Year of participation | 2013 |
| Program | Retrospectives |
| Producer(s) | Josef Marx |
| Director(s) | István Szabó |
| Script | Péter Dobai, István Szabó |
| Director of Photography | Lajos Koltai |
| Production designer | János Nagy, József Romvári |
| Music by | Zdenkó Tamássy |
| Sound | György Fék |
| Edit | Zsuzsa Csákány |
| Cast | Klaus Maria Brandauer, Ildikó Bánsági, Krystyna Janda, Rolf Hoppe, György Cserhalmi, Péter Andorai, Karin Boyd, Mari Csomós, Tamás Major, Ildikó Kishonti, Dora Martin |
| Production company(-ies) | Manfred Durniok Production Hausotterstrasse 36 13409 Berlin +49 30 491 80 45 Objektív Film Studio: Vörösmarty u. 47/a, 1064 Budapest, Hungary |
Synopsis
The German actor Hendrik Höfgen is driven by immense ambition in 1930’s Germany. In the theatre of Hamburg he prepares himself for the great task by tremendous efforts. He marries the rich Barbara Bruckner and goes to Berlin. Finally he can play the dream of his life, Mephisto in Faust. After the great success all his thoughts and time are occupied by the stage, not realising how he commits himself more and more to the Nazi. He is nominated to be the intendant of the Prussian State Theatre by the General who seems to be paving the way for Höfgen's career. His wife leaves Germany, his Jewish friend disappears, his halfblood girlfriend is expelled and the General humiliates him cruelly. His friends want to rescue him from Germany, but he stays on: he keeps on stepping upwards to the top of the artistic career. In his life he is not Mephisto, rather Faust, entering into a blind agreement with the devil. Fear grasps him for the first time when the General lets him be illuminated by the mighty, powerful reflectors in the enormous stadium, the new theatre of the Nazi under construction.
Awards
FIPRESCI Prize, Best Screenplay, Cannes IFF, France, 1981; Oscar (Best Foreign Language Film), American Academy Awards, USA,1982; David di Donatello Award (Best Foreign Actor, Best Foreign Film), Italian Film Academy Awards, Roma, 1982; Silver Ribbon (Best Foreign Director), Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists, Sorrento, Italy, 1982; San Fedele Award, Milano IFF, Italy, 1982; Best Outstanding Newcomer to Leading Film Roles, British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), London, 1982; First Prize, Cadíz IFF, Spain, 1982; National Board of Review Award (Best Foreign Language Film), New York, 1982; London Critics Circle Film Award (Best Foreign Language Film of the Year), London, 1982; Polish Film Critics Prize (Best Foreign Language Film) Warsaw, 1984
Design